weird ugly grey alien tower thing

I've ridden past this ugly thing on the way back from work for the past few years and since I had my camera with me I figured I'd stop and take some pictures. From the road, it looks like some weird, grey, metal, alien tower.

On closer inspection, it's not metal (that surprised me!) but an intricate structure built with jigsawed, half-inch pieces of plywood. Here's some closer pics.

It stands on the short Redford Street, northwest of the corner of Grand River and Lahser in Detroit. It's directly behind Detroit Tire and Wheel which sits on Grand River. The Redford Theater is close on Lahser.

Inside is this small plaque which reads -

The Society to Promote Art and Recreation in

the Community &

The Black Rock Arts Foundation dedicate

The Detroit Dream Project to

Motor City Blight Busters

and the People of the City of Detroit

June 2008

You're thinking -- Yeah, ok... so it's some weird, ugly, grey, alien, tower thing that isn't metal and it's really kinda cool looking, blah, blah... big deal. I've seen this kind of stuff on the internet a million times already. Right?

Well, I'd agree, except that's not the whole story.

When I was looking over the pictures before I uploaded them to Flickr, I was foolin' around with Google Maps, and I went to Street View...

I found the "thing" (this view is looking south down Lahser, that's Redford St. that angles off on the right, and you can see the top of the "thing" on the far right)

So there's the "thing" on the right with Detroit Tire and Wheel on the left and I moved the mouse to look around behind this view...

and I see this guy! The same guy I've seen most every time I've ridden by to look at that ugly, grey, alien, tower thing. Even in Google Street View - there he is!